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Bill's Bar Boston
Well, what can one say about Bill's Bar? It belongs to Bill, and it's a Bar. And it doesn't exactly get packed to the rafters on weeknights... The good news is, we actually had someone there taking pictures (Thanks to Ricardo Paxson), so there are pictures of The Valves on the Valves website, which is something of novelty...

Ah yes, the above picture says it all, the fast paced world of playing in crappy bars all over the world, what a rush.

Upon arrival, after standing outside in the freezing cold for an hour, we finally got in and set up just in time to do a soundcheck. Allen's sax? Check

Roger and Ben able to blow some notes? Check

Mike? Mike? Mike is tuning, we'll check back with him.

Reagan got there more then 3 minutes before gig time. Her sax is working. Mike? MIKE??? Man that thing is hard to tune.

John doesn't have to tune his piano (but he CAN tuna fish) and so as always he did his best Billy Joel piano man impersonation.

Greg tuning too? Man, those wacky guitar players and their little electronic tuners. They sure do save time.

Hey look, it's Timmy and Noah, who at less than a year old has already spent more time in cheesy bars than I had when I turned 21

Once again, the "kool kids" do the black shirt with yellow print motif. Greg actually does it as a motif, John just doesn't own many shirts.

Hey wait, didn't he just spend like an hour tuning a BLACK guitar?

The horn guys test the mics

John tests his ivories

Tommy tries to drum while his mouth is stuck together with peanut butter

and BAM, we're in the show. Can you tell by the huge crowds now filling the room and fighting to be up front near the stage?

No, you can tell because Mike is wearing a black shirt. There is at least ONE person standing in front of the stage.

Mike belts out the opening wail in Grits Aint Groceries, while Reagan looks on with what can only be descibed as "I could do better than that" contempt

This shot could almost be called artistic. A lot of guys have rippling biceps, Mike has rippling Palmaris longus.

Ah, if looks could kill

Greg and I doing our "Number 10" impression. Still hoping for a call from Sesame Street

Wooooaah, far out! If you didn't know any better you coulf imagine this is John Lennon

Mike waits patiently for Greg to stop noodling so he can advance the set list

Finally Bubbles makes her debut. Despite what it looks like, she does NOT have a tablecloth wrapped around her hips.

I swear it's not.

ok, even I'm not sure.

a sign of a great drummer, being able to play and drink gatorade at the same time. Neil Peart can do this with two bottles at once.

Greg Rocks! I Doze

Greg welcomes the crowd

Mike tells the crowd to get lost

and of course, the horn guys live in their own little bubble

Oooh, look at the skull!! Mike sure is anti establishment and everything, with his skull sticker!! Nobody will think he's a wuss with THAT!

And now he does his best grunge band evil scream marilyn manson look, but without all that poofy make up

Wat happens when you break a string in the middle of a song? You change it as fast as you can, or you have another guitar standing by. Greg went the changing string route.

Wow, Mike looks just like Jimi Page. We actually look pretty cool in this shot.

I wish I could remember more, but it was all a blur

Speaking of blurs

We don't just stand around, that's for sure

well, now we are...

And the rockin begins again

You would think I'd look thinner, blending into the background and all, and yet there I am looking as round as ever

but MAN, I can move!! Wow

John always looks like he's playing in a whole different band

Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

greg's just blowing his little heart out.

and Mike sings beside the mic, since singing right into it would make him a conformist

The Beak Twins

Where's reagan??

I don't see her, do you John?

Maybe the skull scared her away?

Never mind Reagan, where's my neck??

Playing into the sunset

john tinkling his ivories and his depends

Wow, we look so enthused. Time for me to go back to "Just for Men"

The Valves rhythm section shows how it's done

There's Bubbles, wow, we totally lost track of her for a while

And so when her chance came to shine again, she rips it up, table cloth and all

We all watch to see if the table cloth will fall off mid song

But no, it was suspiciously well supported

we weren't happy

But then we decided, hey, all you can do is laugh it off

Bubbles Belts

and Belts

and takes a break from the belting

Tom tries not to stare

Getting close to the end of the night

Mike is NOT looking down her dress

Greg introduces the band

Reagan introduces her husband

Greg describing how wide I was before Jenny Craig

if you look closely, you'll see me getting smacked in the forehead

and the horns take a vertical bow

Reagan getting ready to flash the crowd, now don't you wish you had been there?

ok, she didn't really flash the crowd. Mike did though. And then we all went home and slept